Mhuang Khua and the Frenchies

The bus wasn’t that bad at all. It seems that the forum on the net was a scare when you see the bus that we rode to Laos. I got the two-seater seat most of the time for myself and there seem to be plenty of leg-room.

Vietnam Border - Tay Trang - looks fairly new because it is new. We've got our exit stamps there and 6 kilometers away will be the Laos Border.

We were welcomed by a road-construction site half-way to the border and there seems to be no way across it. But the driver and his assistant said there is. We left our fate on them. And the assistant of the driver started to make a sign that we should walk and bring our passports with us. We are going to walk to the Laos Immigration.

In the middle of the walk, it started to rain. There’s no place to seek cover from it, so we continued to walk hoping that it will not pour some more.

We've reached the border. It looks cool and it is really cooler there. Trees around reminding me of Guintubdan. We've been checked with something like a scanning gun for H1N1 and we have to pay a fee of 3,000 kips plus the admin fee of 2,000 kips for stamping our passports. I am one of the lucky ones not paying 30-40USD for the Visa. And I even got a 30-day Visa instead of a 15-day Visa according to what I've read.

Our bus got through the "cliffy" road and we are all ready to continue the journey to Mhuang Khua.

I woke up and there was a river and the bus stopped there and it is actually already Mhuang Khua and the river is called Nam Ou.

We crossed the river with a flat boat and we need to pay 2,000 kips each. Then 2 Frenchies* welcomed us with an OFFER... a boat ride to Nhong Kiaw. Sounds tempting but the price is too high - 110,000 kips each and not even close to Luang Prabang. Most of us then decided to get the 3pm bus to Udomxai where we will rest for the night.

Oh, finally, shower and bed for me.

Have the Frenchies gone already or still waiting for some people to share the boat?

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* I don't mean to hurt anybody but I just like to use Frenchies to refer to French people. Apologies in advance to those who might be sensitive to this.